Ample opportunities and challenges

‘Incorporating natural fibres in end products is no easy task’, according to Leon Joore (Millvision). ‘That is why a separate natural fibre cluster has been set up in the Biobased Delta which concentrates on the whole supply chain: from plant to customer. This is because every process step has consequences for the next step and in the end the application in which fibres – often combined with other materials – are used.’  An important part of the natural fibre cluster is the Natural Fibre Application Centre (NAC), which houses laboratory and pilot equipment for testing whether applications do what they are supposed to do. The NAC originally targeted wood (paper) and agricultural (residual) fibres for paper, cardboard and composites. Now the NAC also includes other fibres such as hemp, flax, miscanthus, bamboo and sorghum.